The Pain in the Past
by The Lady Lieutenant
Summary: When Horatio is kidnapped while investigating a scene, His team of well-trained CSI's must fight through their own emotions to find their boss before it's to late, but they soon learn of the existence of people once thought dead. THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL! RATED M for VIOLENCE, SUGGESTED SITUATIONS, and M&M NON-CON FOCUSES MORE ON THE FAMILY ASPECT THEN ON THE CRIME!
1. Chapter 1

Time froze after the shot. Both Eric and Ryan saw Horatio go down, but no one expected what was about to happen. Not a second after the shot rang out, Horatio was screaming, yelling for help.

"Eric! Eri..." the muffled screaming ended and Horatio was gone. A car sped away leaving dust in its path. Eric and Ryan looked around, there was blood, and it was not the victims. Their beloved boss, Horatio Caine, was gone.

"H!" Eric screamed out the nickname they had affectionately given to their red haired, ocean blue eyed, boss, Horatio.

As Ryan ran after a black car that had taken H. his mind faded back to that morning. A morning that had been just like every other morning.

"Hey Ryan!" Natalia's face lit up as she saw her boyfriend and co-worker walk through the door.

"Hey Nat. What's up?" Ryan Wolfe smiled at her.

"Oh, don't play stupid on me." Natalia Boa Vista grabbed his hand and squeezed, "Are we still on for tonight?" She asked smiling at a man almost ten years younger then her, but with much more experience in the CSI career field.

"Ya, of course we are." Ryan kissed her brown and blond highlighted hair. CSI Ryan Wolfe had replaced CSI Tim Speedle after he was killed in the line of duty. It had taken the team a while to trust the spikey brown-haired, youngest member of the team, especially Eric who was incredibly close to Speedle nicknamed "Speed". Ryan also had a gambling problem that had led to him being fired from CSI and all of his previous cases being reopened, but he had reconciled with Horatio who had let him back on the team.

"Good. Now come on, H. says we have a case down in The Gables." Natalia let go of his hand and walked in the opposite direction. She was the newest member of the team, and had, in her early days at the lab, as a cold case DNA analyst, been a mole for the "higher ups". as Horatio had called it. But now she had became a CSI and had the trust of the team.

The crime scene had been as usual as any other crime scene. A women had been found on the top level of parking structure, in Coral Gables, Florida, visibly stabbed. He had arrived first and had began photographing and marking evidence. Alexx, the Medical Examiner or M.E., had arrived next and began to examine the body. Lieutenant Horatio Caine had arrived next, followed by Eric Delko and Calleigh Duquense, then Natalia.

They soon began their normal assigned jobs on the crime scene. He had continued to take photographs, Natalia documented and collected trace, or fibers and evidence found around the body. Eric and Calleigh collected evidence that pertained to the body, such as the woman's purse, clothing, and other personal items, while Horatio supervised, as he did the majority of the time.

"I've got something here!" Natalia had yelled, motioning for Horatio to come closer, "It's some kind of red powder. It looks like rock, maybe brick."

"Get it back to trace and run it ASAP, Ms. Boa Vista." Horatio said, helping Natalia out of her squatting position.

"I'm on it, and I'll call you with the results." Natalia said, as she grabbed her kit and got into her police issued hummer.

"Alright." Horatio hollered behind him, walking over to Alexx, "Do we have anything, Alexx?" He asked in his loving, questioning voice.

"Not much that isn't obvious, babe." The African-American woman said referring to Horatio in one of her loving pet-names that she had given to all of the team. "She wasn't killed here, not enough blood for her injuries. She's been stabbed and..." she stopped mid sentence, "One second, there is stippling here."

"From gun shot residue?" Horatio had asked, cocking his head.

"Maybe. I'll have to run it at post." She said as she ran her hand over the young women's face, "One second, H. There is white powder on her lips." She took a sample on a que tip and handed it to H who put it into an evidence bag. "I'll know more after post and autopsy." She said getting up from the body. "I'm ready for you." She motioned for the coroner's assistants to come and load the body. Horatio bent down, and with his gloved hand picked up the woman's purse.

"Jinnefer Cladwin..." he said flipping through her wallet. A picture caused him to stop. "Memmo Fierro." His mind went back to his wife, Marisol, the man that had killed her with his sniper, Memmo Fierro, and the man that had put the hit on his wife, Antonio Riaz, who he had killed in Brazil. Horatio placed the wallet into an evidence bag and then into a box that held the evidence that had been taken from the scene; he then walked to Eric.

"This isn't the primary." Horatio said quietly as he scanned the crowd as he did at every crime scene.

"So we're looking at a secondary?" Eric asked as Horatio's phone began to ring, and he answered it.

"This is Horatio... What?" H. asked as his relaxed face grew into one of concern, and he once again looked over the crowd, "Yes. Yes, I understand. Keep me updated. Thanks."

"Eric, we have a problem." Horatio knelt down and began to whisper in Eric's ear, "There has been a break out at the detention center. They called to tell me Memmo Fierro and a couple other members of the Mala Noche have escaped, and according to the victims wallet she had a relationship with Memmo."

"What does that mean for us, H.?" Eric asked his posture becoming more rigid. Marisol had been Eric's sister.

"Just watch out for yourself." Horatio said standing up and putting his sunglasses on."While we wait for our case to break loose too."

Ryan thought back to the lab where Natalia analyzed and identified the trace that led the three men to this warehouse that over looked the ocean.

"Hey, Natalia, did you find out what that red powder at the scene was?" Calleigh asked, bringing in even more trace evidence from the parking structure crime scene.

"Yeah, it's brick." Natalia said as she typed furiously into her computer.

"Well. I guess that's not going to do anything for us, but maybe this will." Calleigh sighed as she put the evidence down near Natalia's computer.

"Maybe not. The brick was saturated in Sodium Chloride Hydrogen Dioxide." Natalia read off of her computer screen.

"Can't you just say sea water?" Calleigh laughed, brushing her long, blond hair behind her ears.

"Yea," She chuckled, "but there is only one place where brick buildings are this close to the water." Natalia pulled up a map on her computer.

"The warehouse district, but most of those buildings aren't eroded enough to produce this much of the powder as a transfer." Calleigh said examining the map.

"Yea, but one place is, and I just sent the address to H., Eric, and Ryan." Natalia said, as Ryan was snapped back into reality by Eric's screaming.

"We got an officer down and kidnapped! I repeat, officer down and kidnapped!" Eric screamed into his police radio. "This is CSI Eric Delko, and I repeat, Lieutenant Horatio Caine is down and kidnapped!"

Eric looked at his fellow CSI, Ryan Wolfe, and shook his head.

"What's gonna happen to H.? There's a lot of blood, Eric." Ryan said worriedly.

"We're just gonna have to wait for Calleigh and Nat to get here so they can process, Ryan." Eric said thinking of how close all of the CSIs were as a family, and how Horatio's kidnapping would affect them all. "He's gonna be fine," Eric sighed "It is Horatio after all."

"What are we gonna tell Tripp and Alexx?" Ryan asked, speaking of Detective Francis Tripp and Alexx. They both sat down on the warehouse floor as sirens and hummers quickly approached the scene.


	2. Chapter 2

_ Bang._ The door slammed shut leaving Horatio in the dark. His thigh was throbbing, and his mouth was gagged. Horatio's bright, ocean blue eyes had already faded to a dull blue from stress. He could feel each little bump on the road, and each sent a stabbing pain through his body.

Horatio was a CSI. He knew what they told every kidnapped victim to do. Quickly he examined his surroundings. It was obvious he was in a car, and by the look of his enclosure, it was the trunk of a smaller car. He tried to turn to see around him, but as he did he felt a seizing pain in his foot. Horatio tried to scream, but the gag in his mouth made it into a muffled moan. He never screamed, especially in pain. He had been through much worse then a broken ankle, but this injury coupled with bullet lodged in his thigh, and the pressing head ache he had, made each instance of pain that much worse.

The car ride went on for a while and each passing moment Horatio thought of his team and of what they were doing. _Had the sniper hit Ryan or Eric too? What was the team doing to find the murderer of the young lady they had found in the Gables? Where was Memmo? _Horatio never thought of himself. He had lost everything close to him other than his team, and now, his team was the only thing he cared about. His mind went to Eric and then to Marisol, his late wife. He thought of the children that they wanted. Then he thought about Memmo Fierro, and Antonio Riaz, as his mind filled with anger over Marisol.

His trip down memory lane was soon cut short by a screeching stop from the car. He awaited the trunk to fly open, and it did seconds later. The two men he saw blindfolded him and took him out of the car. The weight that was now on his foot made him fall to his knees, and he screamed, which again sounded like a muffled moan. The men spoke in Spanish.

"Consigue que el bastardo del piso. Es un hijo de puta débil." One man said. Horatio translated their words in his head _'Get that bastard off the floor. He's a weak son of a bitch._

"Así que llevarlo en el otro coche. Antonio no será feliz si lo arruines. Este Horatio Caine, él es el que llevó Memmo." The other one said._ 'Just get him in the other car. Antonio won't be happy if we mess this up. This is Horatio Caine, he's the one that took down Memmo._'

_ Memmo_, Horatio thought, the man that killed Marisol, his wife. The man whom he had just gotten word had escaped from prison, again, just that day. _Was this who had staged the kidnapping? _Horatio asked himself as the dragged to a car. He instinctively started to fight back, throwing punches, and the men began to play with him, taunting him.

"Ven por nosotros nos H." _Come get us, H._

"¿Dónde está tu equipo para salvar su culo lo siento ahora?" _Where's your team to save your sorry ass now?_

Horatio tried to fight back, but his inability to use his right leg made it impossible for him to move farther than the car. Soon the pain became to much to bare and he fell to the floor, screaming in pain. Tears formed in his eyes, but still not one fell from his eyes.

The men began to kick and punch Horatio, putting him in even more pain. They stripped off his shirt and the remainder of his pants that they had partially removed to crudely bandage his gunshot wound. It did not take long for him to realize there were more then the two men that had taunted him, as three or four feet hit him at a time. As much as they kicked and punched at him, H. refused to pass out, enduring the most pain he had ever felt. All he could do was think about Marisol, Eric, Ryan, Calleigh, Natalia... His team. That was all that was important to him now. When they finally stopped, they put him into another car, still blindfolded.

This car was obviously different. Horatio could move much easier, in a much larger and softer space. His felt a soft fleece fabric, which his bloody skin stuck to. Thoughts of what had gotten him here filled his mind. The dead girl in the Gables. They knew there was a Mella Noche connection. The women's purse contained a picture of her and a man with a trident tattoo, the symbol of the Mala Noche, displayed proudly across his chest. There had been trace on the girl that had led them to the warehouse, where they had found her blood.

Horatio did not think about the car ride. He fell asleep, and his mind went to a much happier place. His dreams were about Marisol and the children they were planning to have. They had named them Eric, Helen, Calleigh, and Ryan. Helen after Horatio's mother, and the others after members of his team, who he already thought of as his own children. Horatio's mind was happy, and for now, that was all that mattered.

Horatio awoke to the car breaking heavily almost throwing him into the partition, three feet in front of him. All of the pain that his sleep had taken away suddenly returned with the lurching of the car, but this time Horatio did not scream. For the first time in a long time, a small tear ran down from his eye and past his ear dripping on to the blindfold, which had fallen off, that lay beneath him.

_ A tear, _Horatio thought. He had not cried since Marisol's death, and there was a good reason. Horatio never cried, especially in front of people. He comforted those who had a reason to cry. Whether it was a victim, or a team member. Horatio was a rock for them, and he never let his emotions get in the way. The tear was symbolic, he knew that, but he was not going to let this tear break him. He was not going to let anything that these men, including Memmo, or any of the surrounding situation, break him.

The door to the van swung open violently, and, for the first time, Horatio saw his captors. Two tall, Spanish men stood before him, looking down at him. One of the men was heavy-set, clean-shaven, and had a full head of hair. The other was slightly thinner then his counterpart, but was bald and brandished a goatee. Both men were shirtless and their skin proudly displayed many tattoos, including a trident, indicating both were members of the Mala Noche. They talked loudly while standing over Horatio, and he soon realized they did not know he could speak Spanish.

The men had discussed the kidnapping. Through their conversation he had learned the heavy-set man's name was Havier and his counterpart's name was José. They discussed how well things had gone and how Memmo had been such a good shot.

_Memmo was the sniper, _thought Horatio. His thoughts again went to his team. He knew Memmo would have jumped at the opportunity to shoot Eric and Ryan as well, and for Memmo's sake, Horatio hoped he had not.

The men continued to talk about how Horatio had fought back. He heard Havier say that Horatio had taken a good chunk of skin out of him and how H.'s nail had been buried in his arm. This explained why his hand hurt at this point, his fingernail was gone. Havier went on to say that his wound was still bleeding, and he said he could not get it to stop bleeding. Once again the men looked down at Horatio, and addressed him. This time they spoke in English.

"How's our little man?" José asked, taunting Horatio, but he did not respond.

"Not gonna talk to us, huh?" Havier asked as put his foot up and stepped into the van.

"Well, come on little guy. Let's go see daddy." José said as Havier grabbed Horatio underneath his arms which were bound by tape and wire and picked him up and brought him out of the car.

They walked with Horatio for a couple of minutes through a large building. Each step hurt him more and more, and his ankle slowly began to go numb. Horatio noticed the many corridors and doors he walked past them.

"An office building." Horatio mumbled.

"Shut up" Havier yelled as he punched Horatio in the upper abdomen.

"Unnh." Horatio winced as they now dragged him through a door into a large, fully enclosed room.

The room looked like a torture chamber to say the least. There was chair bolted down and surrounded by a padded mat in the middle of the room. To the right of that was a box shaped frame with chains to hold a man by his arms and legs. Next to the frame a blow torch and a poker which Horatio recognized as one of the Mala Noche torture devices, a brander. In the back of the room behind chair was a bed with medal posts and a pair of hand-cuffs on all four corners, and in front of the room was a table filled with other torture devices. At the moment Horatio did not care what they were going to use any of the equipment in the room for. He just cared about the man standing about 4 feet in front of the chair, Memmo Fierro.

Memmo looked just as he always had, bald with a goatee. He was also shirtless and proudly bore his trident surrounded several tattoos that went down his arms and his torso.

"Hello, H." Memmo smirked as he looked in to Horatio's sunken eyes. "How are you today?" He motioned for the men to place Lieutenant Caine in the metal chair. They did so and Havier grabbed a chain from above the chair, as José took off his gag, and Horatio now sucked in every full breath he could take. The chain was dragged down to Caine's now unbound and handcuffed wrists. Havier attached the chain to the handcuffs and went to a chain wrapped around a pulley attached to the wall. José started to turn the pulley.

"Wait!" said Havier as he walked to Horatio and looked at his feet. Memmo pulled two more pair of handcuffs from his waistband and handed them to Havier. He removed Horatio's socks and tauntingly, tickled his feet. Horatio flinched sending his ankle into a sneeringly painful whirlwind.

"Ahhh." Hoartio screamed. This was the first time he could scream with out it being muffled and it echoed in the room. Havier continued to attach the handcuffs to his ankles and then to the chair legs. Memmo grabbed a rope from the table in front of the chair tied it tightly around Horatio's abdomen.

"Are you ready, Lieutenant Caine?" Memmo said looking over towards the two men and another who had walked out of the shadows, but whose face Horatio could not see, "Are you ready for the best time of your life?" Memmo motioned for the men standing next to the pulley, and they started to turn the lever, pulling the chain that led to Horatio's handcuffs slowly an painfully bringing his arms up behind him.

Horatio felt his shoulders pop out of socket and he screamed. The pain went on for a second, then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

_Authors note: I update every Wednesday, but I wanted to get you caught up to my figment account! So you get 3 chapters this week, and then you get one every Wednesday! _

Calleigh Duquesne was the first to arrive to the warehouse, and she was simultaneously followed by Natalia "Nat" Boa Vista and Francis "Frank" Tripp, as well as several radio cars.

"What in the hell happened?" Frank Tripp asked in his Texas drawl. The slightly heavy, bald Texan was another father, just like Horatio, to the team of young CSI's. Horatio and Tripp were like brothers both being much older than the rest: Tripp being in his 60's and Horatio in his 50's.

"I don't know." Ryan said, "We followed the lead Nat gave us, and it led us here. We found blood and Horatio called it in. After that it was a blur. There was a shot, and H. screamed. Just like that he was gone."

"Well, you're both now witnesses to a kidnapping and attempted murder. You know what you guys gotta do." Calleigh looked at the two boys in their mid to late 30's with her compassionate, sister-like eyes. A tear ran down her cheek as her voice broke, "We are going to need as much information as you can give us to find Horatio."

"So, this blood must be H.'s?" Natalia Boa Vista asked Ryan and Eric, kneeling down in front of the medium sized blood pools that H.'s blood had formed.

"Ya." CSI Ryan Wolfe responded.

"Are you OK, Eric?" Tripp asked the visibly shaken, Cuban CSI. Eric had always been close to Horatio, but that relationship had deepened after Horatio married his older sister, Marisol. When Marisol was killed by the Mella Noche, a large Brazilian drug cartel, their relationship had become much more than brothers or best friends: Killing the man that had put the hit on Marisol, together.

"Ya. I guess so. I keep hearing H.'s screams, for me, for me to save him." Eric hung his head, and a tear ran down his cheek.

"There is nothing either of us could have done," Ryan put his hand on his friends back, "but we'll get him back."

Just as Ryan finished his thought another siren could be heard as a hummer sped around on to the street.

"I guess Alexx heard." Natalia said sarcastically as an African-American women practically jumped out of the still moving police car.

"What in the _hell_ happened?!" Alexx Woods, the medical examiner for the team of CSIs, exclaimed. "Eric, Ryan, are you ok? Where is Horatio? Where was he shot? What happened?"

"Woah, woah, woah. Alexx calm down. Ryan and I are fine, but we don't know where Horatio is. He was taken." Eric stepped up towards Alexx.

"What happened to Horatio?" Alexx's voice broke, "Eric, what are they going to do to Horatio?"

"We don't know, Alexx. We are just going to have to trust the evidence will lead us to him. That's what Horatio would want us to do." Eric wrapped Alexx in his well-defined arms and just held her.

"The blood drops lead towards the back of this warehouse." Natalia motioned for the team to come closer to her position about 100 feet down the warehouse.

"What were his injuries?" Alexx asked, as they walked toward Natalia.

"We don't know. By the time we had turned around H. was gone. All I saw was the black end of a car." Ryan responded

"Well, these buildings give a perfect vantage point for a sniper." Calleigh, who had always been interested with firearms, pointed out. The place where Natalia's evidence had led them was an abandon and worn-down warehouse. The roof was gone and taller buildings were to the left and the right leaving a perfect spot for the sniper that had shot Horatio. "Well, let's look into that. Meanwhile, I'm going to get this evidence back to the lab, and you two better get yourselves checked out. We need all hands on deck for this."

"Hey, Nat!" Eric called from the far end of the warehouse. They had yet to find any evidence as to who had taken Horatio or to who had killed the girl from the Gables, Jinnefer Caldwin, but Eric had seen something glinting from the place near where Horatio had been forced into the car.

"What'd you find, Eric?" Boa Vista said, as she collected a sample from yet another blood drop, hoping that one or more was from a kidnapper, and not Horatio.

"Silver flecks." Eric sounded confused, "They are fresh, but I swear the car that took Horatio was black."

"Maybe it was," Natalia crouched down about a foot away from Eric, "There are black flecks over here. These could be from a separate car. The car that took Horatio."

"These could be from the car that took Jinnefer Caldwin to the drop site. How luck could we be if both cars scraped the same wall?" Eric thought aloud.

"Well, these are the only leads we have to Jinnefer's killer, and to H.'s kidnapper, so bag and tag." Natalia said, scraping some of the black flecks of the brick wall and into an evidence bag, "Here's Calleigh, I wonder what she found on the buildings."

"Well, the left building seems to be our lucky one." Calleigh held up the shell casing she had found on the warehouse to the left of the crime scene, "This is the casing from a Remington 700. It's in mass production, so it's not going to help us much, but it's a start. The place where I found it had a GSR cone and a clear view of where Horatio was standing. The position of the GSR cone indicates that the shooter was in a prone position, right about there." She said pointing up at a place on the roof.

"Whats a GSR cone?" Alexx asked Calleigh.

"It's what happens when a rifle is steadied on a wall or building and when the gun is shot gun shot residue collects underneath where the gun was steadied." Calleigh explained, "I dusted for finger prints as well, but our guy was clean. There isn't even a fiber up there."

"Well let's get this stuff back to the lab." Natalia got up from the crouching position she was in, "Valera is going to be thrilled she has to go through all these blood samples." she said chuckling.

"She's going to be thrilled alright." Eric said sarcastically as he packed up his kit and got in his hummer, "See ya back in the lab."

"Here's all of the samples I told you about." Natalia said laying them on Maxine Valera's lab table next to her Thermal Cycler. She had always been a DNA analyst, even before Natalia had become part of the lab. She always had went by Valera in the lab, as her real name annoyed her.

"Thanks." She said sarcastically, but still with a defined sense of worry in her voice. "Any news on Horatio yet?"

"No," Natalia sighed, "but this should give us something. Hopefully Horatio fought back and got some blood out of him."

"I can't imagine what there doing to him." Valera closed her eyes, and shook her head.

"Neither can I." Natalia put her arms around Valera, "What could they be doing to him?"

"Hey, let's stop the love fest and lets get this evidence processed from H.'s crime scene." Ryan chuckled as he walked in on Valera and Natalia hugging, "I thought you were crushing on me Nat." Everyone knew Ryan handled stress with humor.

"Oh, shut up Ryan." Natalia said as she wrapped her arms around Ryan's neck. "We need to process these paint scrapes too. I'm gonna head over to trace and start that up." She kissed Ryan's cheek as she left the lab.

Valera started quickly on the swabs taken from the blood drops at the scene. She quickly clipped the tips of the swabs placing each in the solution and placing it in the Thermal Cycler, which multiplied DNA. She started the machine. Soon the machine was done and into the DNA sequencer, which read the DNA and inputted the data in the computer and waited.

Meanwhile, Natalia took the scrapes of paint and examined them. She put a small sample of them into a sterile solution and placed the two small vials, each with one of the two different paints in them, and placed them in the MasSpec, hoping that either of the paints would give them some kind of lead. She knew that each car manufacturer used a different formula of paint for each, make the paint traceable down to the make and model. At that moment Valera ran through the door hold the printed DNA samples that she had compared to Horatio's blood.

"I think I got something!" Valera exclaimed.


	4. Chapter 4

Horatio's eyes opened to a dim light. He was still tied and handcuffed to the chair. The room was empty, and the dim light came from a small light bulb hovering by a string above him. He could not help but to think about how cliche his situation was. He sat in a dimly lit room, tied to a chair, awaiting his fate. His body was numb, but his head was throbbing from a headache. _Was this what kidnap victims went through?_ He thought.

For the first time his mind went to his situation. _How long had he been in here? Had his team found any leads as to his location? _Horatio shook his head. _Why am I thinking about myself? What if Memmo shot Eric? What if he shot Ryan? _His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the door that lead to separate hallway then the one that he had been brought through. A man appeared in the door frame and walked into the light.

It was Havier, and he smirked as he walked a circle around H.

"Hey, little man." Havier said, as he picked up the brander that Horatio had seen when he had been led into the room sometime earlier. "You ready to have some fun, H.? Because I am definitely ready to play some games." He said as he muffled up Horatio's hair and pressed the power button on the end of the brander. "Do you know how to play this game?" Havier placed the brander on Horatio's thigh, but the heat had yet to build up enough to burn him. "Memmo said that you enjoy games. And as a prize for getting you here succesfully, I get to play this game with you." His eyes met Horatio's and for the first time, Horatio recognized his captor.

"Sifuentes, Havier Sifuentes." Horatio mumbled, the pain slowly returning to his battered body.

"So you recognize me, Caine? Or let's say you recognize my older brother." Havier chuckled quietly. "You put him in prison, and now I am going to repay you for such a favor. Because let's just say that the Mala Noches are a family business, and when you mess with one, there is a good chance he has a brother or sister ready to get their revenge." Havier said, jamming the now searing hot brander through a space in the back of the chair and into the Lieutenant's back.

"Unhn." Horatio whinced, grinding his teeth.

"Going to be tough? Huh, Horatio? Well, we are going to see just how tough you are." Havier jabbed the poker near the gun shot wound causing more pain to an already tender wound.

"Unh!" Horatio bit his tongue to keep from screaming

"Ahh, tough-man, Horatio Caine, soon I'll have you begging for relief." Havier smiled as he dug the brander once again into Horatio's leg, but this time closer to his groin.

"Go to hell." Horatio said, snarling at Havier.

"You first." He said shoving the hot brander right in between Horatio's legs.

"Ahhhhhh." Horatio screamed from the searing pain that now went through his body, "Stop!"

"Ha! Little Horatio Caine, begging for mercy." Havier said putting the brander back in the stand the held it to the wall. "And why do you think I should give that to you, Caine?" Havier bent down and stared into Horatio's eyes. "You ruined the life of all the Mala Noche in Miami. You ruined our lives, Caine. So why should I not ruin yours."

"You ruined your own life. You had the choice to change your life, and instead you chose me. It's my job to defend this city from scum like you that are trying to destroy it." Horatio said looking humbly into the eyes of the man that now had control of the man that the criminals of Miami feared.

"You could have looked the other way, Caine, but instead you chose to put my brother in jail. He was the only man that cared, Caine. Don't you get that." Havier stood up, and circled Horatio one again, his voice growing louder, "You have taken everything from me! My freedom, my family, my friends. You took everything that I loved! You cannot even to begin to understand what I am feeling! You have no idea what damage you caused!"

"You would be surprised, Havier." Horatio, for the first time addressed his torturer, in his still very relaxed voice, "You and your _friends_ took my wife, my reputation, and many of my friends have died at your hands." Horatio's voice grew angry as he thought of Marisol and the many officers that the Mala Noche had killed that he had a personal relationship with, "And you can look me in the face and tell me you have taken nothing from me! You took Marisol! You took the only woman I ever loved! You took our children, or family! You took Ray!" He yelled, speaking of his younger brother who had died at the hands of the Mala Noche, "You took my baby brother!" His anger caused tears to run down his face, and his voice broke, "You took the only family I had left!"

"Hmh." Havier smirked at Caine. "We did not kill your family" Havier grabbed a whip off of the table that was still in place in front of the chair. "You killed them." Havier cracked the whip near H.'s ear. "You chose to come after the Mala Noche, and in doing so you killed them!" He yelled snapping the whip on Horatio's chest.

"Come on." Horatio said through his clenched teeth, "Why don't you just kill me?"

"And miss out on all the fun?" Havier chuckled, "You, Lieutenant Caine, get to watch you precious Miami, go down in Mala Noche fire."

"My team will stop you." Horatio said his head hanging low in exhaustion.

"Your team?!" Havier laughed heavily, snapping H.'s neck with the whip, causing his head to snap up, "We will take care of your team. Trust me, you will wish they were in your position by the time we are done with them."

"Mark my words, Havier." said Horatio, raising his eyes to meet his captor and torturer, "If you touch them, any one of them, I will, I will kill you."

"And how do you suppose you'll do that, H.?" Memmo Fierro walked through the door Havier had came through. "Because, the way I see it, is you are here, surrounded by Mala Noche territory, with Mala Noche guards, that hold Mala Noche guns, watching your every move." Memmo pointed up towards a camera that was pointed directly at Horatio. "And there are others, that are waiting for the moment your team steps on to our property. They are waiting to kill them, and what will you do about that?"

"Don't touch them!" Horatio voice echoed in the concrete room, "Do anything you would like to me, but don't touch my team." Tears streaming down his face. "Please, please, don't touch them. They're all I have left."

They had hit a part of Horatio no one ever dared to touch, and that was his team. That was the only thing that could hurt Horatio, hurting his team. He was right: They were all he had left. Marisol and Ray was gone. His mother had killed his father, and in turn he had killed him. Horatio Caine was alone in this world, and the only thing he still loved sat in a lab looking over evidence and microscopes. That was his family now, and the Mala Noche knew that.

"Well, this is getting boring." Memmo stood up, grabbing the whip out of Havier's hand and placing it back on the table, "You see that camera, Horatio?" He said, again pointing to the camera above him, "That's an online feed, and soon, you won't be the only one in pain." Memmo moved to different place near the table.

'What are you talking about?" Horatio asked, "What are you going to do to them?!" Memmo grabbed water from the table and began to pour it above Horatio. Horatio swallowed gulps of the water struggling to breathe between them.

"You are going to know soon enough, Caine." Memmo said, placing the jug of water back on the table, "Soon enough."

The room went dark and Horatio was once again left with his thoughts. _What had Memmo meant in his cryptic message? Who would he be taking? What would happen to his team? _He stared at the camera which began to beep and a red light began to flash.

A couple minutes past and Horatio's headache became worse and his vision became blurry. He could tell that he had been drugged and he let the symptoms come easily, not fighting them. Horatio went in between consciousness as a man stepped into the room_._

_ "_Hello, Horatio." The man's was indistinguishable Horatio_, _but it seemed familiar_. _Horatio flashed back to Rio de Janero_, _and the death Antonio Riaz. Horatio had killed Riaz for putting the hit on Marisol. He had watched Antonio die from his stab wounds. This voice brought back memories from that day, but H. did not know why. Horatio fell into a deep sleep, these questions still on his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

Valera was obviously excited as she waved the DNA results in her hand.

"Slow down, Valera" Natalia said, closing the top of the MasSpec, "Now, what did you find?"

"All of the blood isn't Horatio's!" Valera squealed at her success after the tedious work of testing the numerous samples of blood that had been taken from the warehouse crime scene.

"Oh my gosh!" Natala exclaimed just as Eric walked by.

"What?" Eric said, as he walked in on the squealing girls.

"All of those blood drops weren't Horatio's!" Natalia practically screamed, drawing the attention of the majority of the lab, "Horatio took a chunk out of the guy!"

"Ok." Eric's level-headed voice brought the excitement down, "They still have H. and we still have to investigate what ever happened to Jinnefer Caldwin. Have you even ran that trace yet?" Eric shook his head, "Now who's blood was with H.'s at the warehouse?" His voice sounded condescending, but Valera and Nat paid no attention. Everyone knew how close Horatio and Eric were, and how much Horatio's kidnapping had effected Eric most of all.

"I compared all of the samples to Horatio's that he gave when was hired, and almost all of them matched him." Valera held up a paper that showed Horatio's DNA sample compared to a blood drop from the warehouse that read in green 'MATCH'. "But a few of the drops closer to where Ryan and you said the car was weren't his." She held a different paper that read in red, 'NO MATCH'."So I ran them through CODIS. It came up for Havier Sifuentes, who has a prior for attempted murder and kidnapping; he is serving a 47 year sentence. He escaped today with Memmo and another convict named José Riaz. He has a prior for assault with a deadly weapon and murder of the first degree, and he is serving a life sentence."

"Wait." said Eric, "Riaz and Sifuentes, they are the last names of former and incarcerated Mala Noche. I say former because Antonio Riaz is the man that put the hit on Marisol."

"One second," Natalia said stepping up to her computer,"I wondered why those names sounded familiar." She began typing, "Ya, here we go, Havier Sifuentes. His brother is Rapheal Sifuentes."

"Ya, Horatio brought Rapheal in after on an explosives and attempted murder charge." Eric said, looking over Natalia's shoulder. "And I bet if you look into José Riaz, you will come up with Antonio Riaz."

"Yep, here it is. Antonio Riaz is the older brother to José Riaz and..." Natalia stared, shocked at the screen that was in front of her.

"What's wrong, Nat?" Valera looked at Natalia who's face was quickly growing pale.

"Eric?" Natalia said turning to face Eric who had moved to study the blood sample comparisons. "Were you aware Antonio Riaz has an identical twin brother named Ricardo? He was brought in 8 years ago for drug possession, so his picture is in the mugshot database."

"What!?" Eric said, his demeanor changing from anger to that of astonishment. "He has an identical twin brother?"

"Ya," she clicked on an information bar underneath the photo of Ricardo, "and it says that he has been missing since you killed his brother."

"Eric, you don't think it's possible that..." Valera was interrupted by Eric

"No." Eric sighed, "There is no way that the man that H. stabbed wasn't Antonio Riaz. I am sure of that. He had the right voice and the right demeanor... The man that was killed was the man that pu the hit on Marisol." Without another word Eric walked out of the room, leaving Valera and Natalia alone in the room.

"Do you think, Nat? Do you think that the man Horatio killed wasn't Antonio Riaz?" Valera gathered up the papers and placed them in the neat pile on the desk.

"I don't know, Valera. Let's head to the A/V Lab, I have an idea." Natalia walk out of the room followed by Valera.

"Hey, Ben!" Natalia chirped as she walked into the A/V Lab followed by Valera.

"Hey!" Dave "Ben" Benton greeted his co-worker. He had always been known for his rock star look. His long, blond hair and ruddy appearance had always attracted to women of the lab, but he had only been friendly with Natalia.

"I have a question for you?" Natalia asked walking up to the table which served as the touch pad for the Miami-Dade Crime Lab's holographic computer screen.

"Ya," Ben smiled, "anything for the most beautiful thing in this crime lab."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny, Ben." Natalia shook her head and laughed, "So my question is: I know identical twins look identical, but I heard that there are always small differences in appearance between both twins?"

"All identical twins are identical inside the womb, but certain stresses such as broken bones, emotional trauma, car accidents, even being born can cause slight differences in appearance that are not visible to the naked eye." He said pulling pictures up on his computer, "See if you look at this pair of identical twins, you can see no visible differences, correct?"

"Ya, they look alike, no differences." Natalia said, studying the photograph of two blond girls, who, to her looked identical.

"Well, to you they are, but if you apply the comparison software to both faces you see the differences." He said as the computer took both faces and compared them, showing how different the twins really looked, "See how the twin on the right's eyes droop slightly more then the one on the left?"

"A huh, how does that happen?" Valera said noticing just how many differences there were between the "identical twins".

"Like I said, different stresses, cause differences in appearance." Dave dragged the cursor a place where the girls cheeks overlapped on the comparison image, "You see these laugh lines?" he asked rhetorically, "They are caused by one twin putting more stress on those muscles then the other."

"Wow! So can you do this on any set of twins?" Natalia asked.

"Probably. I'll just need a picture of each of the twins and some time. Who would you like me to compare?" He said removing the pictures of the twins from the screen.

"Antonio and Ricardo Riaz." Natalia said, "You'll be able to find picture of both in the mug shot database."

"Alright. It will take some time to compare them, but I'll..." Ben was interrupted by a trilling from the computer.

"What is that?" Natalia said, shocked by the noise that she had never heard from the computer in her six years of working at the lab, "Make it stop, Ben." The continuous trilling attracted the attention of both Calleigh and Ryan, who walking to the lab, joining Natalia, Valera, and Ben.

"What was that thing?" Calliegh asked as the noise stopped.

"Oh my gosh." Dave said as he clicked a flashing envelope that had arrived with the alarm.

"What?!" Ryan asked coming closer to the table.

"When Horatio was taken we red flagged everything that he had." Ben said typing into his computer, "Email, cell phone, credit cards, anything that his captors could contact us through."

"Ya, so?" Ryan asked.

"So, Horatio just received an email from an unknown IP address, and all the email contains is a web address." He said turning towards Ryan.

"Where does the web address lead us to?" Valera asked, concern growing on her face.

"Well, let's find out, shall we." Ben clicked on the link provided in the email. A web site came up with a video feed.

"Oh my God." Calleigh's voice broke as she stared at the man on the screen, "_That's Horatio_."


	6. Chapter 6

Horatio's eyes opened, and he knew something was different. His body now laid exposed on the bed behind the chair. He knew immediately he had been raped, but he tried not to think about it. He remembered Havier, and the torture session that had gone on. He also remembered the whip that Memmo had used while he informed Horatio of the camera.

_The camera. _Horatio looked up to the camera Memmo had pointed out. He was out of it's view, but he spotted another camera not five feet away from the first which was positioned directly at the bed and him. _Who is watching me? _He thought thinking of how embarrassed he was to be lying completely naked and vulnerable. His mind went to the rape_, Who __**was**__ watching me? _He questioned who could possibly have the feed.

Horatio sighed and tried to remember what had happened, and what had landed him in this bed, undressed. Something was bothering him, but he did not know what. What had happened before they had moved him to this bed? He remembered drinking the water that Memmo had taken from the table. _It was laced with something. I was drugged. _He thought remembering the headache and blurry vision that had followed the refreshing water.

"I knew it was to good to be true," Horatio mumbled to himself, "but I know there was something else. I just can't remember." Horatio realized how stupid he must have looked to the people watching, and he decide to address them,

"Yes. I am talking to myself." He said loudly to the camera, "What do you expect from a man who you tied up and placed in this hell-hole, you sons of bitches." Horatio's loud rant was cut off by a loud crash.

"What in the hell!?" He yelled in the direction of the noise, "Do you not have the balls to face me yourself?" His anger grew stronger by every passing moment, and he began to fight against the handcuffs that held him to the bed stand. Each thrash brought back the injuries that, laying down, Horatio had forgot about. His dislocated shoulders caused his arms and upper chest to burn, and his broken ankle and bullet wounded thigh made the pain in his legs almost unbearable. Horatio was stopped suddenly by a movement near the door he had been walked through, "Who's there?" He yelled becoming more alert of his surroundings, "Memmo, get your sorry ass out here and face me!" To Horatio's surprise a women came out of the shadows and rushed to his side.

"Mr. Caine?" She said, her Spanish accent so thick that H. could barely understand her.

"Who are you?" Horatio's voice had calmed back into his relaxing, gravelly, and seducing monotone.

"Ivonne Hernandez." She said, as she covered Horatio with a sheet. "I am Memmo's."

"You are Memmo's what?" Horatio looked into her deep brown eyes, and he could not help but to think how much she looked like Marisol.

"I am his." She answered cryptically, "Now drink." Ivonne held a cup to his mouth, "No drug. I promise." Horatio welcomed what seemed to be milk.

"Thank you." Horatio said smiling for the first time in what seemed like years, "hy are you here, Ivonne?" He asked as she ran her fingers through his hair, and smiled at him. She looked down, avoiding his question. "Come on," He looked at her with his sweet eyes, "It's not like I am going anywhere." A exhausted chuckle escaped his mouth.

"My daughter." A tear fell down her face.

"He has her?" Horatio asked.

"He's her father." Ivonne broke down, but she quickly recovered her emotions and offered a small amount of food to H.

"He is your daughter's father, but can't you just leave with her?" Horatio watch the tears flood down her face as he accepted the food.

"Eat," She said, avoiding his question, "You will need your strength for what's to come?"

"And what's that?" Horatio, feared what she would say, but her attitude quickly changed.

"I must go, Lieutenant." Ivonne said quickly picking up the glass in a hurry, and as she ran out Horatio head her say, "Good luck!"

Horatio thought about Ivonne, and he smiled. She reminded him of Marisol. Her raven hair went down to her back and her dark brown eyes glowed with compassion just as Marisol's had. He sighed and tried to move, and in doing so, his rape injuries became all the more apparent.

"Oh my God." Horatio said, realizing what had happened to him. He had been raped, and there was no denying it. _Who could it have been?_ He thought. _Memmo?_ His laughed at himself, _Memmo gay? _Horatio started to chuckle and continued for a good five minutes before he moved on. _Havier? José? _Horatio began to laugh again. _Right. Like that could happen. _"Who could it have been?" H. asked himself. There had been only one man that he had know to be gay, and he was long gone.

Timothy Speedle. H smiled, remembering his past boyfriend. Not many people knew Horatio was bisexual. There was Marisol, who he had told as soon she became interested in more then just a dating relationship, and Frank Tripp, the homicide detective who was H.'s best friend and the police officer/detective assigned to work with Horatio's team of CSI's. Frank had gotten Horatio drunk one night, and he began to shed his secrets.

Speedle, or "Speed", had been Horatio's boyfriend for a long time before his death in 2005. Almost six years, Speed and H. had lived together without the knowledge of the team. Sometimes it caused him to wonder how Eric and Calleigh were successful CSI's. They never noticed how Horatio looked at Speed, or how Speed came in, and left, with Horatio, everyday. H. once again chuckled to himself, causing himself to question how much this experience was affecting his sanity. Horatio's laugh stopped at yet another shadow entering from the door across from where they had led him into the room.

"Ivonne?" Horatio called out towards the shadow, "Ivonne is that you, sweetheart?" Memmo walked out of the shadow of the darkened side of the room, but one man remained in the darkness.

"No, Lieutenant," Memmo smirked, grabbing an object off of the torturing table as Horatio now thought of it, "but I saw how much you liked her. To bad you'll never see her again."

"I swear. If you hurt her." He could feel the anger welling up inside him, and for the first time he felt how much the kidnapping had affected him. His body ached and he struggled to keep his eyes open, and he felt tears come to his eyes as he thought about Ivonne, Marisol and his team. Oh, how he missed his team.

"Why do you care?" Memmo said, his eyes dancing, "Oh, yes. She does look a bit like Marisol, doesn't she."

"You have no right to talk about Mari." Horatio said, the tears in his eyes beginning to fall, and his voice broke, "You have no right!" He screamed his sadness once again turning into uncontainable anger.

"Hhm. I have no right?" He paused for intentional dramatic effect, "You had no right to do what you did to the Mala Noche. To the people I call my family!" He screamed into Horatio's face, and held up a stun baton into his chest and pulled the trigger.

"AHHHHHHH!" Horatio screamed, and Memmo and the mystery man, who still stood in the shadow of the room, laughed manically. H. took deep breaths, trying to recover from the electrical shock that had been forced through his body, but upon hear the man in the shadow laughed his head shot up. He knew that laugh much to well, for he had laughed along with it so many times.

"Speed?" Horatio's eyes grew wide as he addressed the man, and he came off the wall and into the light.

"Horatio Jackson Caine." Speed's eyes met Horatio's as he spoke his full name, which was known by only a few people, "How are you, my old friend?"

"But Speed, you're dead." Horatio said, the confusion running through his eyes, "I'm hallucinating! I know I am!" His eyes moving to Memmo for confirmation.

"Sorry H." Speed said, walking closer to join Memmo, who greeted him with a kiss, "No hallucinations here. I thought you would recognize my work." He motioned toward the bed, and immediately Horatio realized that it had been Speed that had raped him.

"But... Speed." Tears of relief, sadness, and anger started to stream down Horatio's face. He had missed Speed so much and was happy he was alive, but, Timothy Speedle, who was only two months away from becoming Timothy Caine, was now a member of the Mala Noche, shown by the trident the was tattooed across his chest, "I held your lifeless body, Speed. Please explain this to me. How could you leave me Speed?! I loved you!" His tired voice now became a scream emotional, physical, and mental pain. He noticed Speed held something in his hand, the laced water.

"You need your rest, Horatio." Speedle said, walking towards H., as Memmo turned and walked out of the room. He could have sworn that Speedle mouthed 'I'm sorry, I love you.' as he got closer and opened the bottle, and held it up to Horatio's mouth, lovingly helping his former lover's tired figure drink the drugged water. "Just sleep my love." Speed ran his fingers through H.'s ginger hair, and he kissed his head, "Don't fight it. I'm right here." For a moment Horatio felt the same love that he had felt so many years ago, but Memmo's voice invaded his dream state, as Speed startled up.

"You coming babe? I took care of the camera, no one will see your face." Memmo peered back into the room.

"Yeah. Just saying good night to little Horatio." He said, in a now taunting voice, squeezing Horatio's shoulder lightly. H. played up his pain making it look like Speed had squeezed hard, and he fell into a deep sleep, for once, he was happy.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Authors Note:**__ Sorry for this chapter being a few days late... It's been a crazy week!_

"What!?" Ryan almost pushed Ben over to sit center of the screen to look at Horatio.

"Oh my God. Look at him..." Natalia noticed how her ginger boss was slumped over in the chair, and tears began to run down her face, "Is he dead?" She asked, as Ben zoomed into take a closer look at Horatio.

"No," Calleigh sighed with relief as she saw his chest go up and down.

"Where is Eric?" Valera asked, knowing he would want to know that Horatio was alive.

"He's down in autopsy, helping Alexx with Jinnefer Caldwin." Calleigh said, pulling out her phone and holding it up to her ear. She waited a moment and the shut the phone, "He's not answering."

"I'll go get him." Ryan said, leaving the A/V lab and walking towards the elevator, leaving the girls and Ben to watch Horatio sleep.

The autopsy looked as it always had, the body coolers lined the wall, and the three metal slabs, that were used to hold bodies during autopsies, lay clean. Only one was occupied by the body of Jinnefer Caldwin.

"Eric, I was right in what I said to Horatio." Alexx said as she examined the wounds closer, pouring silicone in to make a cast of the wound, "This baby was shot, then stabbed, but that's not what killed her."

"What, Alexx? Are you saying something other then the massive trauma to her stomach?" Eric seemed confused.

"Hey, I know I haven't been here in while and that I am just covering while Dr. Loman is out, but I am still an M.E. I know what I am talking about!" She said laughing, trying to lighten Eric's obviously strained mood.

Alexx had worked with Horatio and his team of CSI's for ten years before she had taken an early retirement to spend more time with her family. The slender black women was close with everyone of the CSI's, and when the current M.E., Dr. Tom Loman, had needed some personal time off, Horatio had asked her to return for a small time to fulfill his duties. She, of course, had said yes.

"There is no bruising around these wounds, which tells me that they were made after death."

"What killed him then?" Eric chuckled, and he smiled at Alexx.

"I got results back on that trace that was on her lips," Alexx said, looking over the girls face, "It was arsenic, but she was poisoned so severely and quickly that symptoms couldn't present. This poor girl was asphyxiated by poison."

"Wait a minute." Eric paused, his face was perplexed, "You say that she had arsenic power forced into her mouth, which she swallowed, but there was so much it asphyxiated her. Then she was shot, and then she was stabbed."

"Ya." She said, "Someone really wanted to make sure she was dead."

"Ya, that's what I..." Eric was interrupted by Ryan storming into the autopsy room.

"We have a live video feed on Horatio!" Ryan gasped for breath, trying to recover form his journey down to autopsy.

"What!?" Eric started for Ryan and the elevator, "What do you mean? How?"

"I'm coming too." Alexx said, as she joined Eric and Ryan in the elevator. The elevator started to move, and Ryan gave both a quick overview of what had happened. The doors opened to the lobby of the lab, and the three quickly moved to the A/V lab, where the video feed had been shut off.

"What in the hell! Why'd you turn it off?!" Eric all but screamed at the group of ladies that had visible tears stains down their cheeks. He moved to restart the video, but Ben tried to stop him. Eric pushed Ben into the table, and he pulled up the video. It quickly became obvious why they had turned it off, for now Eric stared at a video that pierced him to the core. He watched a man rape his boss, who was still out cold, but Horatio had been moved to a bed. The camera angle had changed, providing a perfect view of what was happening, while guarding the perpetrators face.

"Oh my God." Alexx gasped, and tears started to fall down her face. "Turn it off, Eric!"

"We have to record this. We need to have all the video to prosecute this asshole!" Eric tried to keep his voice calm.

"But H. also needs his dignity." Ryan said, making eye contact with Eric, "So we tell no one what we saw," Ryan now spoke to the room, "Especially, Horatio." The room was in agreement, and as soon as it had began, the rape of Horatio Caine ended.

"It's over." Calleigh sighed with relief, but soon realized how exposed he was, "Can we blur out his um... His..." Calleigh's face blushed red , and Ben realized what she was talking about. With a few strokes of the touch-pad table, Horatio's privacy was again intact.

"Look at him..." Valera swallowed, trying to keep herself from crying again. She suddenly had more urgency in her voice as she walked towards the door, "I'm going to go process all of the DNA evidence we have from both crime scenes. Maybe then we can find this guy, and Horatio." As she left Horatio began to come to.

"He's awake." Natalia looked at her boss with pity, "I can't watch this. I'm going to go run the trace, and I'll help Valera as well." She walked quickly away.

"Who is he talking to?" Calleigh asked, "Is there anyway we can get sound on this video?" Ben typed quickly.

"No." Ben said, "Its a video only, no sound. You'll have to get someone to read lips." For a split second a smile came across the crowd's lips as they realized who they could call.

"I'll call Walter," Ryan chuckled wryly, "He'll be happy with the time change."

Walter Simmons was a CSI who had worked the night shift. He had been transferred to day shift, and Horatio's team, after Eric had been shot in the line of duty. When Eric had recovered, Walter had stayed on the team until an injury on the night shift had caused Walter to be transferred back to night shift. He had been missed by all, especially Ryan. Walter was the best lip-reader in the MDPD, and now the team could have him back on day shift to help find Horatio.

"Ryan, look at this." Alexx said, "There's a woman with him."

"Ya, H. is talking to her." Ryan sighed, "to bad we can't read lips. I'm gonna go call Walter; tell him to hurry up and get here."

"K," She said as she watched the woman leave Horatio.

"Why is he laughing?" Ben asked as he watched H. begin to laugh hysterically.

"He's not mentally there." Alexx sighed, looking down from the video, "He's probably realized he's been raped, and that this is not just a bad dream." She said as he looked into the camera, and met her eyes. His eyes showing the anguish and fear that no one but Alexx and Calleigh saw "It's alright Horatio baby. We're gonna get you home." Alexx turned and walked out of the lab, heading back to autopsy. Ryan reentered just as Memmo came into the room.

"He'll be here in an hour." Ryan addressed both Calleigh, Eric, and Ben.

"Ok," Calleigh said her mind obviously on something other then Ryan.

"Is that Memmo?" Ryan asked

"Yes." Eric said, his voice deepening.

"Oh my God." Calleigh hid herself into Ryan's chest as Memmo pressed the stun baton into Horatio's chest, and he began to convulse.

"It' alright, Calleigh," Ryan ran is hands through her hair, "It gonna be fine. We're gonna get him back."

"Hey. Is it true?" Frank's voice had startled the group that looked on at Horatio, "Oh my God, Horatio." No one greeted Frank. He joined the group that watched as Horatio's eyes filled with remembrance and love.

"Who is he looking at?" Eric questioned. Frank sighed as he realized where he had seen Horatio look like that before.

"It can't be." Frank's eyes when back to the night Horatio had told him about Speedle and him. His eyes had looked just like that. A man walked into view, his face blocked by the angle of the camera.

"What is it, Frank?" Eric's voice began to grow angrier. "Who is that!?"

"Horatio told me never to tell anyone, but in this case, I don't think he'd mind." Frank swallowed, "Horatio's eyes. I have only seen them like that once, when he told me about him and Speedle."

"What about him and Speedle?" Ryan asked.

"Their relationship." The Texan choked out, "Him and Speed dated. They were a couple months from their wedding when Speed was killed."

"That can't be Speed, and Horatio can't be bisexual!" Eric screamed, and stormed out.

"Look at that man." Calleigh sighed, staring at the man that now approached Horatio "He looks just like Speed from the back. I've just never seen him shirtless."

"I could see how Horatio could be bisexual." Ryan said, not listening to Calleigh, "He has looked at me a couple times..."

"Wait a second," Frank stopped Ryan, "You're gay?!"

"Bisexual, there _is _a difference." Ryan attempted to laugh at his friend.

"Wait, guys, look at what this guy is doing to Horatio." She watched as the mysterious man held Horatio's head up, and helped him drink. The man ran his hand through Horatio's hair, and for a second the man lifted his head to the camera.

"What the hell!?" Frank looked into the man's eyes.

"Speed." Calleigh's mouth dropped.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Author's Note:_** _**Don't Kill ME PLEASE!**__ For those of you who are CSI Miami geeks. Yes, I know this is not how Speed's death went, but, admit it, this is how we all wanted it to go._

Horatio slept peacefully now. His mind went back to a happier place as his flashback began.

"Wake up, babe. You're going to be late for work... Again." Timothy Speedle sat next to Horatio, and tried to coax him out of bed, "People are going to start realizing somethings up, if you don't hurry up."

"A lot of things seem to be up lately." A dirty look crossed Horatio's face, remembering their passionate love-making session that had occurred the night before.

"Horatio Jackson Caine! If you don't get your cute, little ass out of that bed..." Speedle said jokingly as he stared at his partner and fiancé.

"If I don't get my cute little ass out of this bed what?" Horatio said in his seducing, low and gravelly tone, with a smirk across his face. He had always had a way of seducing Tim into making love with him. Even if it was a half-an-hour before they were supposed to be at work.

"No Raiche." Tim's nickname for Horatio took off the H and the O at the beginning of his name and I and the O at the end. "Tonight we shall continue our saga, and I might just wear the old patrol uniform for you."

"Will you rescue me then?" Horatio's gravelly voice had become one of a giddy teenage ready to rid himself of his virginity.

"Only if you need rescuing." Speed said, his fingers tip-toeing up Horatio's red-haired chest. His lips following his fingers with kisses.

"Oh, I will. I know I will." Horatio laughed, but was interrupted by his lover's lips meeting his mouth for a kiss. He felt Speed's tongue intertwine with his, and for a second he forgot about everything. There was no CSI, no Eric, no Calleigh, no crime, no victim, no lab, just Timothy Speedle, and that was all that mattered to the rough and tumble lieutenant.

"Ok, up and at um love." Speed broke off the kiss.

"Ugh, if you say so..." Horatio Caine struggled out of bed.

"If you hurry, I'll bring you home for lunch today, and I can guarantee after what I do to you, you'll need quite a bit of rescuing." The sentence put fervor into Horatio's step, and as quickly as he had gotten up he was shaved, dressed, and ready to leave. He crept up behind Tim who was hurriedly making an omelet, but his cell phone trilled, causing Speed to turn around half startled, half annoyed.

"We got a DB on a yacht that ran into a bridge." Horatio said.

"Well, I don't have my hummer so it looks like you're driving." Speed laughed at Horatio.

"Oh, come on, I drove yesterday!" Horatio said in sarcastic annoyance.

"Well, your hummer is here, and we will be even more late if we drive by the lab to get mine. I'd drive, but would it look right if we arrived at a crime scene, me driving your hummer? That wouldn't look right would it?" Tim handed Horatio half an omelet rapped in tin foil, "Come on. Let's get this over with, Raiche. So I can get you home." They both made their way to the hummer, and then to the crime scene.

They had gotten a lead pretty fast. The DB, a male, had been delivering ransom money to his kidnapper. The ransom, which had been made up of fake, graphite diamonds had lead them to a a diamond seller on the edge of town.

"Once we question this guy, I'll take you home." Speed's crooked smile poorly hid what he planned to do once they got home, and Horatio, again laughed, like a giddy school boy. Horatio had always been an 'Alpha Male', but when it came to Speed he took on a much less manly role.

"I love you." Horatio's brilliant blue eyes met Speed's, and the shared a romantic glance as the hummer pulled into the diamond sellers parking lot, and they walked in.

"Hello." A bald man, who was obviously the manager came up to the two men. "Can I help you two with something? Maybe a setting?" The man had obviously guessed that they were dating and looking for an engagement ring.

"Sorry. No. That's already taken care of for us." Speed motioned for Horatio to take out a gold chain that was concealed behind the collar of his shirt, proudly displaying the gold band that hung from the red-head's neck.

"We're here about some diamonds that were sold to this man." Speed showed the man the picture, then let Horatio continue, "They were found to be fake during a ransom deal this morning. It cost this young man his life, and maybe the life of his child." Horatio said tucking the chain back behind his shirt and pushing his suit jacket aside to reveal the police badge.

"Oh." The man became fidgety, "I'm sorry, but I can tell you that our diamonds are not fake. They had to have been replaced after they were bought, but I'll..." The man voice blurred as Horatio looked around. Something was not right, and he knew it. He looked behind the manager to a door that swung open slowly, and Horatio saw the barrel of a gun appear.

"Speed!" Horatio screamed as everything became slow motion, "Gun!" Horatio and Speed drew their gun's in unison, and took aim at the man behind the door. H.'s shots came quickly, and they were as accurate as he could be under pressure. Speed pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He saw a second gunman appear from another door, and he looked down at his gun, to find the problem. Horatio's shot pierced the first gunman, and he turned to the second. A shot went off, and Speedle fell to his knees, hit near the heart.

"Raiche!", was all Speed could say as he fell to the floor. The second gunman fled as fast as he came, but Horatio did not pursue him. He knelt next to Speed, and felt the tears run down his face.

"I'm here, Tim." Horatio grabbed Tim's hand and squeezed, "Don't you leave me." H. could barely speak now, his voice cracking under the tears that sped down his cheeks and on his shirt. "What am I gonna do when I get home? What about the uniform you promised me?" A small smile was managed. He saw the blood pour out Speed's mouth, and he knew that his last moment's with his soon-to-be husband were quickly coming. "What about this?" He pulled the ring out from around his neck, becoming desperate. "I'm not going to let you break this promise. Do you understand, baby!? You're not going to leave me, OK!?"

"I can't feel anything." Tim managed to say in a low whisper.

"It's alright Tim. That's a good thing." Horatio clenched the younger mans hand.

"I love you, Horatio Caine." A small smile crept across Speedle's face, "And I always will." Horatio knelt onto Speed's chest, and he felt his last breathe.

"I love you too, Tim." Horatio stifled back anymore tears, as the sirens came closer. Horatio never left Speed's side. The patrol car's came, followed by Frank, and then Eric, who had tried to pry his grief-stricken boss off of a now life-less body.

"Come on, Horatio." Eric had wrapped his arms lovingly around his boss, and tried to remove him from the body. His voice was loving and compassionate, but still Horatio did not move. All Eric could do was sit there rubbing H.'s back with his hand, waiting for the moment he was ready. Calleigh came next and joined Eric on the other side of Horatio. Both kept their faces stoic. They had never seen Horatio like this: So emotional, so vulnerable.

"Alexx will be her soon." Calleigh said to Eric, her voice in a smooth whisper, "She'll need to process him." The room of the diamond store was empty beside the three, and the body of Tim Speedle. Frank had kept the patrol men out of the store after discovering Horatio's state, and for that they were grateful.

"She'll know how to get him off. We'll leave that to her." Eric said, continuing to make circles with his palm on the back of Horatio's back. H. had been holding back tears, and he could feel himself ready to burst. Alexx had arrived, and she quickly came into the room, stopping to gaze upon Speedle, still protected by Horatio's body.

"Horatio, baby?" She said as she knelt over Tim's body and placed her hands on his shoulders. Her face was near his, and he knew the tears were coming, "Honey, I'm going to take care of him, do you understand? But I need you to get off him, and go to Eric and Calleigh. Is that alright, Horatio? Can I take care of him? Will you let me take care of him?" Her voice was soft and sweet, like his mother's had been. She raised Horatio with her gentle hands, and she saw the ring that hung down from his neck. Horatio fell into Eric's arms, and the tears came from all four.

"We've got you, Horatio." Eric noticed Speed's blood that had soaked Horatio's shirt and the side of his face, "You got that, H? We're not gonna let anyone see you like this, OK?" Eric kept his arms wrapped around Horatio.

"I'm going to get the hummer and pull it up out back. No one needs to see Horatio like this, especially the media." Calleigh said, wiping the tears from her face. Eric reached into his pocket and threw her the hummer keys. He then moved to help Horatio up, putting one arm under his shoulders and the other behind the crease of his knees. H. was not there, and it was obvious by how little he fought Eric's lift and cuddled so easily into his shoulder.

"I've got ya, H. We're gonna get through this together, alright?" Eric carried the limp Horatio through to the back, and he placed Horatio into the waiting hummer, into the arms of a tearless Calleigh. She ran her hands through H.'s hair, and she whispered to him words that he had kept between him and her, as she wiped his face of Speed's blood.

Horatio had fallen asleep, and woke up in his office, with a new shirt and the shades pulled, leaving him in darkness. As he walked slowly out his office, the events of the day came flooding back. He walked to the locker room and placed himself in front of Speed's locker. The lab had been empty, the employees had taken the day off at the request of Calleigh and Eric. Horatio stood there for a while, the exact amount time he did not know. He was interrupted by a presence, and he immediately recognized it as Calleigh. His arms wrapped her in a hug as he felt her emotions slip, and she began to cry.

"You saved me." He whispered in her ear, his voice breaking.

A rush a of cold water brought Horatio out of his sleep, and he realized to quickly that his dream was no longer a reality.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey, Walter!" Ryan hugged the tall, black man who looked as if he had just been woken from a peaceful slumber, which he had.

"Hey, Wolfe!" Walter greeted his best friend with a hug, "I wish I could say I am glad to be back, but under these circumstances, I'm not."

"Ya. I've gotta say I love having you back on the team, but we aren't a team until Horatio's back." Ryan said leading Walter into the A/V Lab.

"I agree, brother. So where is this footage that you need me to analyze?" Walter said, viewing the live feed of Horatio. The window minimized so that only a small portion of the screen held the live video. Another window came up with previously recorded of the women with Horatio. The video played, and Walter studied it in silence.

"There discussing her daughter. She says Memmo has her, but other then that not much." Walter looked up from his notes, "There's another?"

"Ya, here." Ryan pulled up the video, and watched Walter work his magic. After a few minutes the video stopped, and Walter looked up, dumb founded from what he had read on Horatio's lips.

"He's taking about Speed." If Water was not trying to look shocked, it was failing badly.

"The 'Speed'?" Ryan had heard so much about Timothy Speedle, and now he could not believe that he was not dead, nevertheless with Memmo Fierro.

"Unless there is another Speed. Horatio even asked if he was hallucinating, and tells him he is supposed to be dead. H. almost looked relieved when the man came up to him. I never would have guess the big man was a bisexual, you know there is a difference." Walter paused awkwardly, realizing who he was talking to, "Oh, ya. You better know."

"Ya, though I can't say I'm sad he is. I'd like a chance with him." Ryan laughed and an entering Calleigh nearly coughed up her lunch.

"I get him first!" Calleigh exclaimed with a small laugh, "Or maybe we can have him together!" Walter broke out into an all out laughing fit imagining both Calleigh and Ryan dating Horatio.

There was no denying that Horatio was considered a catch. No matter how old the man was, his bright red hair, brilliant sapphire eyes, and his one-in-a-million personality made the fifty-something year old a prime target for men and women alike.

"Someone should turn that into a book. I would read that a million times over." Walter commented, in between his belly laughs. The thirty year old knew how much he had missed the day-shift team, and he was glad he was back, no matter what the circumstances.

"I just might." Calleigh snapped sarcastically.

"But can you imagine how fun that would be?" Ryan questioned, somewhat seriously.

"I would do it." Calleigh said, in complete seriousness, sending Walter into another laughing fit,"The problem would be with Horatio, and saying that he isn't even here to defend himself, I'm stopping this conversation now. So what did you find Walter?" Walter now grew quiet, and look towards Ryan, hoping he would take this question, and he did.

"There was nothing with the girl. Memmo is the father of her daughter, but..." Ryan paused, and Eric, who had joined them intersected.

"But what, Ryan?" His voice still had a sense of anger, but it now it held confusion and hope as well.

"But the man Horatio was talking to..." He trailed off wondering how he was going to say what he needed say, "It looks like it was Speedle." Calleigh threw herself into Eric, who looked dumbfounded by the results. Ryan went on to explain the evidence they had found in the video, and how they had come to the conclusion.

"How is that even possible?" Calleigh asked shyly, holding back tears.

"That could be why there was no autopsy." Eric remembered how Horatio had asked for no autopsy, and how he has surprising been granted his wish, "but it was Horatio who had asked for no autopsy. Do you think he was in on it?"

"He seemed genuinely surprised in the video. There was no doubting he was shocked." Walter filled in. As if on cue the computer trilled and Ben walked in.

"Hey, Walter!" He said greeting the man with a quick hug then moving to the computer, oblivious of the shock that radiated throughout the room. He moved his hand, thus stopping the trilling.

"How'd you do that?" Ryan asked motioning towards the door. Ben held up his phone.

"Had an alarm set." He said, as he pulled up the pictures of Antonio and Ricardo Riaz on the screen.

"Is this the facial comparison Nat asked for? The one that ran the picture of Antonio and Ricardo." Eric asked

"Yeah. It took a little longer then expected, with everything going on." Ben said, glancing down at his watch. It was now almost five in the afternoon, and Horatio had been missing six hours.

"So this will tell us if H. killed Antonio or Ricardo." Eric said, looking intently at the screen, waiting for the results.

"Well not this test, but I had a gut feeling, and I ran the picture of Ricardo against the picture of the dead Antonio in Brazil. I also ran the initial test of comparing the two." Ben's fingers danced across the keyboard, and the results came up on the screen.

"Oh my God." Eric sighed, as he looked at the comparison. The picture of Ricardo matched perfectly to the picture of the man that Horatio had killed for putting a hit on Marisol, the wrong man.

"I'm sorry, Eric." Calleigh hugged her ex-lover. Eric broke her lock on him and walked out without another word. The group sat in silence just staring for what seemed like an eternity. Just as Walter went to spoke he was interrupted by yet another trill from the computer.

"It's a skype call from Kyle." Ben said without missing a beat. Kyle Harmon, a reddish-blond boy not a day over twenty-two was pulled up on the screen, obviously scatter-brained.

"What's going on with my dad?!" Kyle yelled over the noise of the Afghanistan base-camp behind him. Horatio had not known about his son long. He had been conceived while Horatio was undercover, and Kyle's mother had not informed H about his next of kin until her husband was found murdered, throwing herself and the news of Kyle into his life.

"Kyle," Ryan's voice broke as he spoke-up, "we are doing _everything _we can to find your dad." Tears slowly fell down the man's cheeks as well as those of the Private First Class.

"They are trying to find me transport home," Kyle's voice wavered, but he somehow regained his dad's calming tone, "but I have to wait until we get a shipment out here. This area is only accessible by helicopter, but we aren't getting one out here for another week. I am staying on base, just in case they find someone to come pick me up." Kyle smiled softly, just like his dad.

"If your going to stay on base, we will keep you updated on your dads state." Calliegh smiled his 1000$ smile, which made everything feel somewhat normal again.

"Do you have any updates?" Kyle asked. His voice sounded just like his dad's, and it made them feel like it was Horatio asking for an update on a normal case.

"We have a live video feed that someone, I am guessing his kidnappers, sent us. Other then that we are doing what your dad taught us, and we're letting the evidence speak for itself." Ryan smiled remembering how Horatio had taught him to read the evidence when he was new off of patrol.

"A video?! So we know he's alive! Can I see the video?!" There was a marked excitement in the young man's eyes, but it was followed by a somber silence as he saw the faces of Calleigh, Ryan, and Ben.

"Kyle," Calleigh spoke with a crisp, but calm voice, "You do not want to see that video, and we will not show it to you." Kyle's eyes dropped, and he looked at the desert sand underneath his feet.

"Alright," Kyle said with a sigh, "I've gotta go now."

"Ok, Kyle, but keep close. I'll call you over skype when we get something." Ben said in a compassionate tone. He had not known Kyle long, but when Kyle had gotten in with the wrong crowd and ended up in prison, it was Ben who had used infrared sensors to find Kyle tied up under the jail, kidnapped by some fellow inmates for being Horatio's son.

The skype screen closed, and their attention went back to Horatio, who had now been joined by the apparent Speed, Memmo, and another man who was obviously identifiable as the one, and the only, _Antonio Riaz._


	10. Chapter 10

The freezing water made Horatio's eyes snap open, waking him from his dream. His head spun, but he could barely make out the three men who stood in front of him.

Speed was easily recognizable as the gigantic, black-haired man in the room. Memmo was the smaller, bald man, still sporting his bare chest and goatee. The other man that now stood a few feet behind Memmo laugh quietly, and his voice was the most recognizable of all in the room.

"B-But," Horatio stuttered, his eyes trying to focus on the man the stood to the left of his exposed body that still lay stretched out on the bed.

"What, H" The voice said with a hint of sarcasm, "The cat got your tongue?" The man knelt down by Horatio, holding a knife to his mouth "Because I can help you with that." The knife moved to his chest and punctured the skin. Horatio tensed, not from pain, but from the voice he knew to well.

"Antonio." Was all his fragile body could say before he began to scream and writh from the knife tracing along his body, down, into and around his groin, and down his leg. The torment came close to unbearable, but was quickly stopped by a firm voice.

"Stop." Speed's low voice bellowed. In Horatio's mind, still dizzy and throbbing from the drugs, it sounded like an echoing scream.

"What Tim?" Antonio questioned his counterpart.

"You will stop._ Now_." Horatio could see almost clearly now, and the figure of a black, curly-haired man now stood above him. _How could Antonio be here?_ he thought, but now that was not important as he saw Speed point towards the door. Memmo and Antonio left, leaving just Speed and Horatio alone.

"Timmy?" Horatio's frail and quiet voice barely whispered.

"It's alright, Raiche." Tim came closer to the bed. Oh, how long it had been since he had heard his pet-name, and it was music to his ears. No matter what was happening, Tim's voice calmed him.

"Riaz..." Horatio manged to get out as watched Speed start to undress.

"I know, babe. Marisol. I know." Horatio could not believe how much Speed knew about his life. He knew about Mari, and about Riaz. "Just relax, H." Speed said quietly as he took off his last piece of clothing, revealing his bulging length.

"Please, Tim, no." Horatio could barely get out before Speed thrust into him, with no preperation. "Ahhhhh." Was all that followed as thrust into him again and again. Speeds hands moved up and down on Horatio's body, first to his nipples, then his hair, and finally down to his hard length, stroking it. Horatio moaned and screamed in a mixture of pain and pleasure.

Speed stopped his thrusting abruptly, and exited Horatio. Neither of them had come, making Horatio question his situation. He wondered if this was even happening, or if he was just dreaming. His questions were quickly answered by a whip hitting him square in the groin. Speed held up a contraption, known to Horatio as a cock ring with attached cock plug. Tim's voice quivered as he placed the device on and into Horatio, causing Horatio to wince and tense up.

"It will help if you relax. I have to do this, Raiche." Speed smiled sweetly at Horatio, and he relaxed. Tim was amazed at how long Horatio had lasted. It was well near 7 o'clock at night, and he, in all of his years had not seen men last through 4 hours of this kind of torture, and Horatio had yet to beg and plead. It had now been near 10 hours, and Speed wondered how long, and how much, it would take for his former boss to truly break.

"Ok." Horatio said without stutter, and once again he had regained his calm, peaceful, and almost submissive voice. He had been shot and taken forcefully from a crime scene, thrown in a car and taken to a unknown location, tortured and raped, exposed, but that meant nothing to Horatio, all he could think about was Calleigh, Ryan, Natalia, Eric, and the others.

_What are they doing to find me? _he thought as Speedle began to thrust into him once again. The pain of his unprepared anus was nothing compared to the pain/pleasure caused from the inability to come for his former lover. Speed came, and Horatio felt his seed spill out in side of him. The sex continued though, and all Horatio could do to keep focus was to think of his team. He had no idea what time it was, but he guessed somewhere between 8PM and 2AM, and he wondered what they were doing. Ryan had probably joined Eric and Natalia in staying late, and Calleigh was probably venting on the gun range. Tripp was probably already drunk at a bar, hitting on all of the women 20 years younger then him. The thought made him chuckle, but a stabbing pain made him fall back to earth.

"Come on, Love." Speed said, slowly inching his hard cock towards Horatio's mouth, "Please."

"Umm." Was all Horatio could say before he deep throated Speed's length. Deep inside he was happy he was with his lover again, but he could not stop wondering why Speed had left in the first place. There was never any autopsy because Speed had asked for it that way. Horatio had had Speed cremated immediately per to his wishes, and now he began to wonder who's ashes he had spread across the beach where they were to marry. The had been a funeral, but no open casket. Speed had asked to be cremated as soon as he had died because he did not want Horatio to dwell long. His mind went back to 2002 and that conversation as Speed drew out of him, only to thrust again.

The day had been nice, and Horatio and Speed had spent it at a park near the glades. They sat at a picnic table surrounded by trees and marsh. The lunch that Speed had made was amazing, and was the cherry on top to the fun day they had spent together. They had even seen a gator, but Horatio's focus was on man that slowly ate his salad with chopsticks. It was a weird quirk Speed had: he loved eating everything with chop sticks. If he could have found a way, Horatio knew Speed would eat soups with them.

"You with me, babe." Speed looked up from his salad to find Horatio staring at him.

"Wh- uh, yah. I'm here." Horatio said, snapping back into reality.

"Are you alright? You've seemed pretty distant since Al died." Speed spoke of his mentor and best friend, who had taught Horatio when he was on the MDPD: Arson & Bomb Squad. He had been killed while attempting to disarm a bomb only 2 months earlier.

"Ya." He sighed, "I'm just realizing how fast life can be over." He took a second to rub his stiff neck as Speed stood up. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

"You know what you'd do?" Speed said making his way to Horatio's side of the table, sitting down to look him in the eyes. "You would dwell on it." Speed's hands went to his lovers neck and shoulders, and he began to rub slowly. "Can you promise me something, Raiche?"

"Anything, my love?" Horatio said, leaning into his lovers hand.

"If anything were to ever happ-" Speed was interrupted by Horatio raising his head to speak, but Tim's hand moved from his lover's neck to his mouth. "Shh." He said lovingly, "Let me talk." His hand moved back to the man's shoulder. "If anything were to ever happen to me, you need to promise me you'll move on. I love you, Horatio, and you know that. But our job is dangerous, and I don't want you to let yourself hurt. Grieve for a while, and then you need to be strong. I don't want an autopsy. That will be to hard for Alexx. Have me cremated_ immediately_. I don't want to be some creep in a casket." It scared Horatio how literal this sounded, but he knew Tim to be as literal as possible. "I know you'll always love me, Raiche, but let me rest in peace. Move on quickly, and know this, I'll always be watching over you."

"I'm scared you're going to leave me." Horatio admitted. It was rare for Horatio to be scared of anything, nevertheless, admit it. Speed's eyes shifted from Horatio's to the floor, and his hand went his pocket.

"I love you Horatio Caine." Speed said throwing his leg over the seat and standing up. "And I always will." Speed pulled Horatio up from his seat, and knelt in front of him, pulling out a necklace. "Horatio Jackson Caine, will you marry me?"

Tears streamed down Horatio's face as he nodded silently. Speed stood up, and he clasped the necklace, which held a gold band, behind Horatio's neck. Their lips met in a passionate kiss, and a kiss from Speed, brought Horatio back to the present.

"Welcome back, Horatio. Lost ya there, for a second." Speed smiled, and Horatio realized the extent of his injuries, caused by Speed's love session. For the first time since this ordeal had started, Horatio questioned how long he could survive this.


	11. Chapter 11

"Let's go." Calleigh's grim voice ordered more than suggested. It was near 7:15 at night and over two hours in to night shift. The team had stayed late to go over evidence, and they had discovered many new things from the evidence collected at the warehouse crime scene.

The black paint belonged to the color 'Phantom Black Tri-Coat Pearl' which covered the body's of some Chrysler manufactured vehicles. Specifically, it was used on the 2014 Chrysler 300C, which looked the most like the car Ryan and Eric had seen for less then a second at the warehouse. The second scrape of silver pain led them to the Ford 2014 Transit Connect in the color Silver Metallic. Both cars now had a bolo against them, but to their knowledge Memmo, Speed, Antonio, and their minions had yet to leave Horatio's jail.

"Good work today, guys." Natalia said, to the team, who had now gathered in the locker room to pack up their stuff.

"Ya. We did what we could, and tomorrow we'll revisit both scenes to see if we missed anything." Ryan said, gently grabbing Natalia's arm and pulling her aside.

"What's wrong, Ry?" Natalia said, her brown eyes meeting his hazel ones.

"I know we had _something_ planned tonight," Ryan smirked, "but I think I need a rain check. I need my sleep."

"Alright. With everything going on I totally understand." She smiled, and grabbed her bag. "Get some sleep." She shouted on her way out.

Ryan had no intentions of sleep, but he had no doubt of what he was going to do.

Eric left, backpack in hand, with a good bye, but Ryan stayed behind, pretending to fix something in his locker. He was left only with Calleigh who had just come out of the showers. As soon as Eric had left, Ryan made his way to the blond, who had obviously been crying.

"You alright, Cal?' Ryan's voice was soothing. Natalia would not have minded to know that Ryan was staying behind to comfort Calleigh. Their relationship had always been open, but he did not want to try and explain in front of Eric.

"Y-Ya. I think so. I just don't know. Are you?" He voice quivered, but she still managed to achieve a small smile.

"I don't think I know yet either." Ryan smiled back, and wrapped her in a hug. Outwardly, he kept it purely platonic, but on the inside both him and Calliegh longed for it to be something more.

"Drinks?" Calleigh said trying to regain her normal happiness. "My place is just a half-an-hour away."

"Ya, totally, but I told Nat I'd be sleeping." He said sarcastically.

"I don't think any of us will be sleeping tonight." Calleigh said with a wry chuckle.

They walked with each other, but they separated into their own cars.

The drive was quiet for both, but about 20 minutes in they passed a house that looked vaguely familiar to Ryan. The light was on, and the door was flung open. Calleigh stopped immediately, and Ryan willing followed her. His confusion quickly ended, and he jumped out of his car as he realized whose house they sat in front of.

"This is Horatio's house." Calleigh said, her gun already drawn as she began to approach the front door.

"Ya," Ryan confirmed, gun drawn, "I've been here once." He said, remembering the one time Horatio had to pick up something from the white beach-house with a front porch. The house looked like it could be part of a movie, but, then again, everything in Horatio's life did.

Calleigh pointed towards the door with her fingers, and then she motioned for Ryan to go around the back way.

Both made there way to there positions, Calleigh giving time for Ryan to maneuver around back.

_One, two, three. _She counted silently and then brought herself into the room with her normal CSI entrance mantra.

"Freeze, MDPD! Hands in the air!" She screamed. Within the second Ryan mimicked her, breaking down the back door, and welcoming himself into Horatio's office.

"Clear." Ryan yelled, and was mimed by Calleigh, as they went through every room of Horatio's home, not bothering to check the locked basement.

"Oh my God." Calleigh said, after they had cleared all of the house. She looked around in astonishment at the once pristine home. In the living room alone the end table was overturned, the flat-screen TV laid, screen broken, on the floor, and the couch cushions torn apart.

"Why did they do this?" Ryan asked, surveying the damage of the kitchen, which connected to the living room through a counter-top bar above the sink and counter. The refrigerator had been completely stripped of food which now laid, scattered, on the hardwood.

"I have no idea, but I do know they just gave us a boat load of evidence." She picked up her phone and made a call.

"Ya." She said. "But Ryan and I were heading to my place for drinks-" She was interrupted by who ever was on the phone and gave a good laugh at whatever they had to say, "I needed a friend, and he was there. Trust me I'm not taking your man." _Though I would love to, _she thought. Now it was obvious to Ryan that she was talking to Natalia, and he was glad that she had taken that question with stride. Calleigh quickly explained there situation to Natalia, who said she would call Eric and Tripp. They exchanged goodbyes and hung up.

"She'll be here in about a half and hour." Her voice was now much more labored, and she looked about ready to pass out.

"You alright, Calleigh?" Ryan approached her and attempted to support her with his arms.

"I am just so scared." Calleigh fell into his arms, burying her face into his shoulder.

"Its alright." He said, leading her to the door and to the back of his pick-up truck. She jumped up on the bed of the truck.

"Ya think we are going to find him?" Calleigh asked as she leaned into his shoulder.

"Yes. Either way, we _will _find him." Ryan could not think of anything better to say. They had all seen what those men had done to Horatio, but there was no way they would give up on him. Horatio had protected each and everyone of the team through different and unique situations, and now Ryan couldn't help but to think that they were letting their special red-head down by not protecting him.

"Do you think he'll be OK?" Her question was not one Ryan expected, but still, he answered.

"Only time will tell." He could not help but to think how cliche that sounded, but it was all he could say. Ryan had been kidnapped once, and he was forced to tamper with evidence. Horatio had gotten him out of that situation, even saving the boy that they had use to threaten Ryan. He knew that the nightmares were terrible, and even 5 years later, a nightmare would rear its ugly face every once in a while.

"Oh, Ryan," Calleigh's voice broke once again, and she reburied herself in to his chest, "We have to save Horatio!" Ryan wrapped his arms around her, and soon she drifted off into a soft sleep. She was awakened 20 minutes later by Ryan's slight tap on her shoulder.

"Wake up, Cal." His voice was strong, but gentle. "Nat's almost here." Her eyes opened just enough to see the oncoming headlight's of Natalia's hummer. She and Walter exited the vehicle, went to the back and grabbed two crime scene kits each.

"Hey." Her voice had both a sense of fear and of sleepiness. She handed her second kit to Ryan, giving him a kiss, and Walter gave his second kit to a now fully awake Calleigh.

Frank and Eric joined the group shorty. They had apparently been at the same bar, and had come together in Eric's hummer. Together the 6 entered the ginormous beach house and examined the amount of work that was set before them.

All work was normal until Eric reached the door near the basement. The previously closed and locked door was now cracked open, and a small light shown from the bottom of the stairs. Eric took his gun from his holster. Noticing his dilemma, Frank unholstered his weapon and joined his friend by the door. Eric prepared to kick the door fully open, but was stopped by a women's voice coming from the bottom of the stairs.

"Memmo?" Her thick Spanish accent was apparent to both CSI's who had now been joined by the other 4.

"Papa?" A young girls voice followed the other voice.

Eric swung the door open gently, his gun prepared to fire. What he found was unexpected to say the least. At the bottom of the stairs sat a young girl, covered in blood, and an older women, covered as well.

Ryan was taken a back as he realized who the elder women was.

"Ivonne Hernandez." Was all he could say.


	12. Chapter 12

Speed was quick to leave, but not before making a quick wave to the camera, which confused Horatio greatly.

Horatio was now alone in the dark room, and he decided to inventory his injuries to himself. _What a great way to pass the time, _he thought sarcastically. From bottom to top he had one broken ankle, the other one was at the very least sprained, both of his lower legs were marked with whip marks, and his thigh had been pierced through and through, by the bullet. Up and down his body, a knife mark was still bleeding, and there were burns from the brander and stun gun. He was also torn and bruised from Speed raping him, both wrists and arms were most likely broken and dislocated from fighting back against the restraints that had held him to the chair and now the bed, and finally he was hungry, bruised, and dehydrated from his stint in this hell hole.

Quickly Horatio's eye's grew heavy, and he wondered how long they would let him sleep this time. As he slipped quietly into sleep he could not but to think about his team again. He smiled knowing they would keep each other safe tonight. Soon his nightmare's over took him, and the night terrors reigned him in his sleep.

"Shut up, Horatio!" Jackson Caine slapped the 17 year old red-head.

The young man had come home to his father once again beating his little brother, Raymond, and had tried to interfere.

"Horatio, just leave it be." Helen Caine combed her strawberry-blond hair behind he ear with her fingers. She grabbed his arm and took him out of the room. Horatio had already been placed in to Juvenile Hall twice. In fact, he had just returned home from his second two-month stay. No matter how many times Police Officer Jackson Caine was reported to the Police Department for child-abuse, the supposed Blue Wall of Silence had protected him every time, leaving Helen Caine to protect her two boys by herself.

"But Mom," the fiery red-head looked at his mother, a green and purple bruise evident along her collar bone. She had married Jackson Caine, a red-head as well, when she was young, but her 38 year old body was worse for wear. The constant years of abuse had left her look more like a fifty year old, but that did not matter to her. "look what he's done to you, and to Ray! Why can't you just leave him, Ma."

"Horatio." Her voice became serious, "You know what The Holy Father thinks about divorce without a just cause."

Helen Caine had always been true to her Catholic religion, and the Bible said that the only reason for divorce was infidelity. To Helen, the abuse of her and her sons was no reason to leave a well-esteemed, high-ranking officer of the NYPD.

Ray's screams could be heard from the other room, and Horatio, at the very least wanted an explanation.

"What'd he do!?" Horatio screamed in his mothers face.

"Calm down, Chipsy." She said in the trademarked, calm, Caine voice, calling Horatio by his nickname. Helen had given Horatio the nickname when he was only one year old and had gotten into a bag of chips, spilling them all over himself. Jackson Caine had proceeded to beat his son, but Helen thought is was the cutest thing she had ever seen, thus giving him the nickname Chipsy. "I forgot to have dad sign his paperwork for school. So Mrs. Stephens sent home a note that your dad was not to happy about. It was my fault, Love." Her smile made her son relax some, and he wrapped her in a hug, letting a tear run down his cheek.

"I'm sorry for yelling, Momma." His 5 foot 11.5 inch figure dwarfed her 5 foot 3 inch one as the melded into each others arms. To be honest Horatio thought of her as the love of his life, but not in any sexual way. She was everything to him, mother, best friend, confidant, and no matter what Jackson did to her or to him, they had always protected each other.

"It's alright, Chipsy." Her delicate hand traced his face, wiping the tear from his eye. Their moment was interrupted by a scream and crash coming from the living room. "Take your brother and leave for the night." Her voice trembled slightly, showing Horatio just how scared she really was, "Both of you can come home after school tomorrow, but your dad had a rough day at work and is going to be pretty bad tonight."

"But mom-" Horatio was interrupted by her serious look and reluctantly went to his room to grab his already prepared go bag. It was not unusual for Horatio and Ray to escape for a few nights to let there dad cool down, but normally they brought their mother. For the first time, their mother had decided to stay to help their father cool down.

"Ray!" Horatio yelled at his 14 year old little brother, "Hurry up, little man."

"Hh." His mother chuckled quietly and walked up to her eldest son, "I love you, Horatio Jackson Caine." Her voice hid something, and Horatio knew it.

"I love you too, Mommy." Horatio fell into her embrace, and for the first time in a long time both felt vulnerable.

"Take care of Ray." She said cryptically.

"I will, and you know that." He smiled, trying to read her eyes.

"Take this." She handed him an envelope, "You'll know when to open it, but don't open it until you know."

"What are you talking about, Ma. You're worrying me." Horatio's blue eyes flashed with concern, and Helen stepped back to gaze at her son.

Horatio had grown and matured in the two months he had been in juvy. He had even turned 17 in that time, but that was not what impressed the woman the most. She had always taught him to show his strength in his mind, not in his hand, and that is just what he had done. His jaw was now set, his smile now wide, and the ice blue eyes that once held so much anger, were now ones of bright sapphires. She could not help but to notice how much he looked like his dad with his crew-cut hair and deep-set eyes.

"Don't worry about me, Chipsy. I'll be fine. Just let him cool down, and you can come home tomorrow." She kissed his cheek and wrapped him in one more hug before sending Horatio and his brother off into the night.

_Knock. Knock. Knock. _The door to Margreta Evans' house was opened by her daughter Alexxandria.

"Again." The black- skinned, dark-haired sixteen-year-old sassed at Horatio and his little brother before being joined in the room by the matriarch of the family.

"Oh, Horatio." The older women wrapped the lanky boy-turned-man in her arms, taking the bag from him.

"Hey, Mrs. Evans." Horatio said with a sigh. He hated when people felt sorry for him.

"Come on boys. Your mom already called me. I have your beds set up in the family room, and dinners on the table." She could not help but to notice the smiles that were exchanged between Horatio and her daughter, Alexx.

"Thank you, Mrs. Evans."Horatio said with a giggle, taking Alexx's hand and leading her to the dining room.

"Those two." Ray smiled for what seemed to be the first time in a million years. They shared a laugh before heading off to the dinner table.

The next morning came slowly for the two boys. Neither had slept well, and Ray had found himself in Horatio's arms half way through the night. It was common for Horatio to have nightmares, and it was increasingly normal for Ray to feel his big brother's arms around him at some time during the night. Ray knew that Horatio always wanted to keep him safe, but Ray loved taking care of his brother as well. So when he had felt Horatio's tears on his bare neck, Ray had turned, wrapping the boy in his arms, and he began to stroke his red hair. The touch instantly calmed Horatio, and he fell back into his sleep.

School was a drag for Horatio. It had been two months since he had stepped into Archbishop Molloy High School_, _and his day was not short on questions on what old-man Caine had done this time. He had returned to school just in time for finals week, which he had already finished in Juvenile Hall. The day was long, but at the end of it he gathered his belongings and hurried home.

As Horatio arrived at home the screams of his mother had already attracted his neighbors attention, and they were gathered in the street. He dropped his belongings in the driveway and ran into the house. As he reached the door he noticed the blood on the entry room wall, but he kept going until he arrived to the kitchen. His body was forced to stop at the sight of his mother, slightly conscious, covered in her own blood, lying on the floor.

"_Mom."_ Was all he could say, as he fell to her side.

"I love you, Chipsy." She gasped.

"Mom." Horatio repeated, as he heard the scream of his little brother behind him. Ray ran to his mother's side, trying to stop her gored stomach from bleeding.

"Take care of him." She said in a whisper, motioning to Ray, "and, Ray, you keep your Horatio safe, OK?"

"I will, momma." Ray said, but Horatio could not speak.

"My pocket." She said, trying to reach into her pocket. Horatio reached into her jeans and pulled out a small tape recorded, "Now you have proof. Get rid of that monster for good." The woman smiled and breathed her last. Ray's sobs could not hide the sound of the footsteps behind Horatio. He turned to find the man he wished to see most at the moment, his father, _Jackson Raymond Caine._


End file.
